Irish food safety model attracts international attention

Dr Daniel O'Hare always envisaged a good job would be done in setting-up an independent, pro-consumer agency to ensure Irish food meets the highest standards. But the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) chairman admits he never envisaged "the Irish model" would be held up for others to follow.

Within the past few months, food safety experts from Britain, France, the US, Norway and Australia have been looking at how the Irish agency is being structured. There is an emerging perception that Ireland is taking its food safety seriously, Dr O'Hare notes. A multi-million pound PR campaign could not have anticipated such a favourable outcome.

Ireland may be one of the first EU countries to have a food safety authority, yet Dr O'Hare is the first to concede the Irish model has to be delivered on in terms of having a fully resourced agency. The Government has moved quickly to put strong legislation in place, to be phased-in from January. The coming weeks will determine, however, to what extent the FSAI's three-year corporate plan is endorsed, and the agency is financed.

The plan is ambitious and puts food safety in a context beyond the realm of "food quality". It embraces trade and tourism; all of which are significant parts of our "food island", and depend crucially on a favourable international perception of the safety of Irish food. Initially, it will be concentrating on highest risk areas in the food chain, such as commercial caterers, retail and wholesale distribution networks and meat processing industries.

Recent salmonella outbreaks and increasing cases of the notorious E. coli 0157 have exposed weaknesses, Dr O'Hare accepts. There is a need for consumer reassurance from a solid base, and for direct lines of communication. Equally, there is a requirement to learn from the circumstances of outbreaks and to accept that striving for perfection may be desirable but absolute safety of food is not possible - especially when inevitable human error is factored-in.

Dr O'Hare, the president of Dublin City University, believes the FSAI responded quickly and professionally in locating the cause and source of outbreaks, and in taking remedial action. But the "ready response" necessary requires slick co-ordination between many types of food safety professionals, with the back-up of facilities such as an enteric reference laboratory so food-borne pathogens may be identified quickly.

There is a need for more "sharing of information" to ensure better dialogue, analysis and tracing of food illness, he adds, with the FSAI drawing professionals together at whatever level they operate. The plan highlights its role in co-ordinating food safety and hygiene currently controlled by almost 50 agencies including four Government departments, eight health boards and 33 local authorities. The mechanism through which this is to be done is by entering into "service contracts" with the FSAI. The legal powers available to the authority will be transferred to agencies acting on its behalf.

The plan has standards as a key bulwark; setting them and reviewing them in terms of "what is safe". High standards should not cause fear within industry or be interpreted as inevitably leading to higher costs, he insists. Just as reducing carbon dioxide emissions will yield a better environment despite some short-term costs, embracing food safety will yield "stronger markets, better markets with a quality product and quality endorsement by this body called the FSAI". Talking a longer view, it would be seen as in their best interests. "If they want to continue as normal, there are great exemplars already there who will put them out of business," he warns.

Dr O'Hare cites the above minimum standards being applied to the medical device and pharmaceutical sectors, and already to some parts of food industry, which are exploited successfully as "a plus in the market place".

He admits the FSAI's commitment to "consumer primacy" will be tested, but he is confident that with the kind of dynamic in the FSAI board and its chief executive Dr Patrick Wall, it will publish "unpleasant information" if in the consumer's interest. Essentially, it will not only be opinion-based but scientifically-driven, which is why its scientific committee is so important.

There is a perception that the FSAI is a "control organisation" but he expects that with the kind of commitment most food producers and processers are already showing its considerable powers will be rarely used. Producers and retailers will have their say within a consultative council. The FSAI will listen but will not in any sense be dictated to by them. A series of expert subcommittees will advise on key issues. Already, a group examining how best to deal with the E. coli 0157 - "the big threat needing attention" - has completed a lot of work. Its findings are about to be published.

Its work illustrates what the FSAI is about, Dr O'Hare notes; carefully and scientifically assessing food safety concerns and coming to "very calm conclusions" on how to minimise risk. He knows the FSAI plan faces a grilling right up to Cabinet level during the imminent pre-Budget frenzy, having to compete with many other pressing projects requiring finance. But he is confident of its adoption, believing the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, is firmly behind it.